James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I outlined previously, the Bill provides that members of the directorate be drawn from HSE employees holding the grade of national director but does not specify individual national director posts. In tandem with the proposed new governance structures, new administrative structures will be put in place in the HSE to reflect the need for greater operational management focused on the delivery of key services and greater transparency of funding, service delivery and accountability. The planned director posts include a director of mental health. However, this is separate from the Bill. When performing their functions as members of the directorate, members will act collectively as part of the governing body of the HSE. This is distinct from their individual responsibilities as senior employees holding the grade of national director.

Given the overall structure of the Bill and its purpose, which is to abolish the board of the HSE and not abolish the HSE itself, I hope Senators will appreciate it would not be possible to accept these amendments and provide the level of specificity suggested with regard to a particular service area, notwithstanding the importance of this area. I do not propose to accept the amendments but I have listened carefully to what Senator Power has stated and I agree with her sentiments on the importance of mental health. We will have a director of mental health who will have control over his or her budget. The idea of these directorates is that the directors will have clear line of sight over their budgets and what happened previously will not happen again, whereby budgets and moneys were moved from one area to another after being voted for a specific purpose by the Houses of the Oireachtas.